MLB's LaRussa Not In "Tweeting" Mood

It may have taken more than 140 characters to get across, but the essence of St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa's message to the micro-blogging site Twitter was clear - I'm suing you.

The veteran baseball manager filed a complaint in San Francisco Superior Court last month, saying that he had "suffered significant emotional distress (and) damage to reputation," according to a report on StlToday.com Thursday.

LaRussa sued when a imposter posted messages to the increasingly popular site that, among other things, contained disparaging remarks about two Cardinal pitchers who died in recent years while still active in the major leagues.

The complaint alleges trademark infringement, trademark dilution and misappropriation of name and likeness.

Twitter is a messaging site utilized by a wide range of people and entities - news organizations, celebrities, politicians and average users. A post, called "tweets," is limited to 140 characters and can range from simple comments on what someone is doing to breaking news. (Like the CBS News Twitter page).

Twitter removed the fake LaRussa page after the suit was filed.

[septa44]

This has been an ongoing problem with Twitter. An analysis was done here recently:

http://twitterbacklash.squarespace.com/journal/2009/5/18/your-twitter-identity.html